Seal of New Hampshire

New Hampshire State Seal

Seal of New Hampshire

New Hampshire has had a state seal for more than 200 years, initially created in 1775 by the First Provincial Congress and featuring a pine tree and an upright fish (symbols of the two major economic resources at the time) on either side of a bundle of five arrows (representing the strength of unity among the then five counties).

In 1784 the seal was revised to depict a ship on stocks with a rising sun in the background (to show that Portsmouth had become a major shipbuilding center during the war years).

Details on the seal became distorted over the next 150 years, as new dies were produced every few years artists had added various items on a frontal dock (such as rum barrels with sometimes human beings beside them), and in 1931 a a less objectionable seal was called for and the seal was finally described specifically by legislature.

The present state seal features the frigate Raleigh (built at Portsmouth in 1776 as one of the first 13 warships sponsored by the Continental Congress for a new American navy). The figure 1784 on the old seal was changed to 1776, and the old Latin phrase "Neo Hantoniensis 1784 Sigillum Republica" around the circular seal was replaced with "Seal of the state of New Hampshire 1776." The 1931 seal law spelled out that only a granite boulder could be shown in the foreground as a symbol of the granite state’s rugged terrain and the character of its citizenry. The state seal is also featured on New Hampshire's state flag.